


Out There

by Marsalias



Series: Grandfather Clocks [13]
Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Gen, Lost Time, Mars, SO IS MARS, The Moon - Freeform, The Moon is Haunted, mars rovers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-17
Updated: 2020-04-17
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:14:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,201
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23702923
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marsalias/pseuds/Marsalias
Summary: Clockwork takes Danny on a field trip out of town... And out of this world.
Series: Grandfather Clocks [13]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1706959
Comments: 32
Kudos: 374





	1. Chapter 1

Danny mumbled angrily to himself in Latin as he looped gauze around his arm. Sam and Tucker were both out of town on family vacations for the long weekend, and the ghosts were being mean about it. Stupid Skulker. Stupid Technus. Stupid giant ghost pelican.

The gauze slipped through his fingers. He scowled at it. Normally, Danny would have asked Jazz for help, but his parents were testing a new anti-ghost security system. He could avoid it when he was human, his ectosignature when human fell below the threshold for action, but he didn't want to turn human before he fixed this. He needed more time to heal.

Also, his parents would definitely notice the gushing blood if he went home without stopping it. They were oblivious, but not that oblivious.

Right now, he was perched in a tree several streets away from FentonWorks, his ghostly tail wrapped securely around the branch beneath him, trying, and failing, to tend to his injuries one-handed. He had almost managed to take care of the gash on his arm, but he kept dropping the gauze.

Danny gasped, then exhaled a plume of vapour. He looked up eagerly. This was an ectosignature he recognized. A friend.

"Grandfather?"

"I am here," said Clockwork.

Danny yelped and nearly fell of the branch. Then he turned, beaming, and hugged the older ghost. "Why are you here?" he asked. "How are you? What's happening?"

"A number of reasons," said Clockwork, calmly. "I am well, thank you. May I see your arm?"

"Oh!" said Danny. "Um, sure. You don't have to-"

"Perhaps not," said Clockwork, fixing Danny's sloppy bandages. "But I want to." He tied off the ends of the bandage with a neat knot, and patted Danny on the shoulder.

The old ghost then waited patiently while Danny shrugged back into the top half of his suit, and pulled the zipper up to the top of his collar before retrieving his gloves from where they had been tucked into his belt.

"So..." said Danny. "What's up?"

"There is a paradox that I have to solve in person," said Clockwork. "I would like you to come with me, but you do not have to if you do not want to."

"I want to," said Danny.

Clockwork smiled, and shifted into his younger form. "Nephthys has also asked to borrow you when we are done."

"Okay," said Danny. "Sure." He didn't know Nephthys well, but his didn't dislike her. "Where are we going?"

"It's a surprise," said Clockwork, "but I think you'll enjoy it." He paused. "There is one thing I need to tell you," he said, warning in his voice. "You must not return to human form while we are there. You must remain as a ghost. Do you understand?"

"Yes," said Danny, after a moment of processing. He wondered where they could be going. Underwater, perhaps? Or maybe a settlement of ghosts that really didn't like hybrids or humans? In either case, it would be interesting. He just had to be careful. "Do you know what Lady Nephthys wants me for?"

"She didn't say. I do believe that she's enjoys being mysterious nearly as much as I do."

Danny uncurled his tail from the branch, reforming his legs to kick at the air.

"I don't think anyone could enjoy being mysterious as much as you do," he said. "When are we going?"

Clockwork smiled, rippling, shifting into his broad-shouldered middle-aged form. "Now would best," he said, floating up off the branch and out of the tree.

"That's good for me," said Danny, following.

Once they were quite some distance above Amity Park, far enough up for there to be a slight chill in the air, Clockwork came to a stop, Danny at his shoulder. Clockwork tucked himself behind Danny, wrapping his cloak partially around Danny. Danny giggled.

"Ready?" asked Clockwork, playfully.

"Ready," said Danny, tilting his head back to smile up at Clockwork.

With a sweep of a his staff, Clockwork opened one of his blue portals, and the two of them passed through.

It took Danny several minutes to process what he was seeing and feeling.

He wasn't breathing. More accurately, he couldn't breathe. His breath had escaped him with a _whoosh_ the moment they had come through the portal. Still, Danny had gone long periods of time without breathing when he was Phantom. Not breathing when he was a ghost was normal.

A bit odder was the odd, fizzy sensation on the surface of his skin. It felt a little like there were bubbles all over the surface of his skin, like he had been carbonated, or like he had jumped into a pool just right. Or like when he had gone into space to fight Technus.

Ah.

That made what he was seeing make a _lot_ more sense.

A pockmarked, lumpy, dark gray expanse stretched out beneath a pitch sky. Dozens of stars stared down, unblinking. Over the horizon hung a fingernail thin- no, razor thin- blue-white sliver, a delicate curve. That was the Earth. If he wasn't breathless already...

He looked up at Clockwork, wide-eyed. Clockwork smiled down indulgently, and ruffled his hair.

A slow smile crept across Danny's face in answer. This was the Moon. He was on the _Moon._

Clockwork glided away, and Danny remembered that Clockwork had brought them here so that he could work on a paradox. Danny stuck close to him. As much as he wanted to explore, as much as he wanted to flit from place to place and shove Moon rocks _(Moon_ rocks) into his pockets, he was a little nervous.

They reached a spot in the center of a small crater where there was... something. Whatever it was played on the edges of Danny's senses, and he hung back even as Clockwork flew closer. Clockwork glanced back, and made a gesture Danny interpreted as 'entertain yourself.'

Danny blinked, then smiled and nodded. If Clockwork didn't think he'd get into trouble, he would probably be fine, and he really, really wanted to look around.

He wanted to get some Moon rocks.


	2. Chapter 2

Danny felt a hand on his shoulder, and turned from his self-assigned task of throwing small stones downhill. Considering the low-gravity nature of his current location, the activity was much more interesting than it sounded. Danny couldn't get over the elongated parabolic arcs, the slow falls, the lack of wind resistance.

The hand belonged to Clockwork, the only other person up here. 'Here' being the Moon. The Moon. Danny still couldn't believe that. Well, he could, but he couldn't.

Danny bounced (quite a bit higher than he had intended), and hugged Clockwork tightly. He hoped the hug conveyed his sense of gratitude and excitement, because he couldn't speak or hear in the vacuum of space.

Clockwork patted him on the back, then gently tugged him away. Danny obediently floated back, and Clockwork pressed a small piece of machined metal into his hands. Danny stared down at it in curiosity and wonder. It had clearly broken off of something larger, and it had a fragment of a logo on it, but Danny couldn't tell what it was from.

Clockwork put a hand under Danny's chin, and lifted it up. A souvenir, he mouthed, from the future.

Danny grinned and nodded, excited all over again. Clockwork patted him again, this time on the head, then took his hand and pulled. A portal opened up in front of them, and, on the other side, Danny was buffeted by a curiously weak but fast wind. It whistled weakly in his ears and kicked up red dust.

"Mars," said Clockwork. His voice was quiet, barely audible over the wind, but had the timbre of a shout.

Danny inhaled sharply in surprise, and immediately regretted it. Despite having no need to breathe in ghost form, most of the associated reflexes were intact. Such as, for example, coughing upon breathing in a large amount of dust.

By the time he'd stopped, the dust storm (the Martian dust storm) had subsided, and he was able to look out over an absolutely breathtaking (ha ha) Martian vista.

Well, to be perfectly honest, the view wasn't exactly breathtaking on it's own. It consisted mostly of rocky, red-brown hills that, on Earth, would probably be considered boring. But they weren't on Earth. They were on Mars. The color of the sky, the closeness of the horizon, the storm receeding in the distance, all conspired to give the view a thrillingly alien feel.

Maybe it shouldn't have, maybe Danny's adventures in the arguably more alien Ghost Zone should have jaded him, but this was such a dream. This was his dream. If he wasn't floating literally, he would have been floating figuratively. He was- he giggled- over the Moon.

A figure stood in the middle distance. No, two figures. Clockwork flew towards them, and Danny followed closely.

"It's Lady Nephthys," said Danny, shouting to be heard, "and who else?"

"You don't need to yell quite that loudly," said Clockwork, clearly amused. "You'll wear yourself out. It is Nocturn. He has a role in this as well."

"Nocturne?" yelped Danny. He had only encountered Nocturne the one time, and they had fought. "Why?"

"You'll see." Clockwork's tone wasn't as deliberately mysterious as usual. It lost something in the shouting cadence. "He is one of the Ancient Masters, much as I, Nephthys, or Pandora. He felt the need to test you. He is typically much more relaxed."

"That was a test?"

"Of course. Didn't it strike you as odd, how he needed machines to keep people asleep? Or how you were able to wake up? You aren't anything like a lucid dreamer."

"Well, yeah. But everyone is always doing their own laws of physics, and weaknesses, and Obsessions, and stuff, so I thought, as long as it's internally consistent..."

"That's reasonable," said Clockwork. "That was his goal, after all."

Danny, feeling aprehensive regardless, drew closer to Clockwork. Not that he thought Clockwork was leading him into a fight. He wouldn't do that. Without a good reason.

But still- Mars. He was finding it difficult to focus on anything else, even the mysterious thing that Lady Nephthys wanted him for. Speaking of which-

"Why does Lady Nephthys want me?" he asked. "I know you said she didn't say, but that doesn't mean that you don't know. And why are they here? Not that I'm complaining, but there aren't any people here, except for us. No death. No dreams. Unless- Are there aliens?"

"Not unless you count the four of us."

Danny gasped, thin air bitter on his tongue. "Oh my gosh! You're right! I'm an alien! We're aliens! This is so cool!"

Clockwork patted him on the head again, ruffling his hair. He was doing that quite often today, and Danny was fairly certain he would be annoyed if it was anyone else.

"For your other questions, well, the secrets of death are among the few things that time cannot reveal."

Danny bumped into Clockwork affectionately. "You're such a nerd," he said, knowing full well that he fell into the same category. Impulsively, he hugged Clockwork. "I love you," he said inaudibly, voice muffled by the thin atmosphere and Clockwork's cloak. He pulled away.

Judging by the way Clockwork smiled at him, he had heard what Danny said regardless. Danny stuck his tongue out. Clockwork chuckled.

"Nephthys will be unhappy with me if I tell you," said Clockwork. "She wants it to be a surprise."

"Okay," said Danny, who was already starting to be distracted by the scenery again. This was so cool.

... It also looked... oddly familiar? Like he had seen it before. Which was impossible, unless... His eyes landed on a shape near Nephthys and Nocturne's feet.

"Grandfather?" asked Danny. "Is this Chryse Planitia? Is this-? Is that that Pathfinder? Sojourner? Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh." He made a sound that somehow combined both ghostly and human excitement.

He flitted forward, examining the shape. It was mostly covered by dirt- by the Martian soil- but enough was visible for it to be easily identified as manmade.

"Pathfinder!" he squealed, nearly vibrating out of his skin.

Nephthys frowned. "You told him!" she accused Clockwork. Her robes were short and cream-colored and embroidered with butterflies today, a touch more practical than how Danny usually saw them, and stained red up to her knees. As usual, she wore a veil over her curly black hair.

"I did not," said Clockwork.

"Then how does he know?"

"He really likes space," protested Clockwork.

"He dreams about space," said Nocturne, yawning. The ghost, who was, apparently, the Ancient Master of Dreams, looked much different than he had when Danny last saw him. Yes, he still wore the night-cut robes, yes, he still had the horns, yes, he still had the mask. But the mask was clearly that, a mask, where before Danny had taken it for his face. Considering how ghosts worked, it might have been his face back then, but it wasn't today. Also, it was askew. And he was holding a pillow. And he was a good deal smaller, human-sized.

Danny wasn't really paying attention to this, however.

"Oh my gosh, I was on the Moon, and now I'm on Mars, and I'm in space, and I'm with Pathfinder, and the sun-!" he squinted up intently at the Martian sky for several seconds. "The sun is going down. Can we stay long enough for it to set? A Martian sunset! This is so cool. Do you think Phobos or Demos will be up? Will we be able to see Earth? Oh my gosh, I can't believe it! And we're with Pathfinder! What about Sojourner? Is Sojourner around? Is it buried?" He took a deep, shuddering, and entirely useless breath. "Best day ever!" he shouted, and threw himself at Clockwork.

"It isn't over yet," said Nephthys. She sounded a little put out, so Danny turned.

"Sorry," he said, trying to be attentive. "Clockwork said you wanted me for something?"

"Yes," said Nephthys, less ruffled. "We're here to witness a transformation." She lifted her chin, and gestured to the ground. "This is Pathfinder." She waved behind her, at a shape a few meters away. "That is Sojourner." Danny nodded eagerly. "It was the first Mars rover."

"Well," said Danny, "there were those Russian ones..."

"Didn't work, don't count. Sojourner was the first to do any roving."

Danny nodded, not quite understanding where this was going.

"It captured human imagination," continued Nephthys.

"It spawned dreams," said Nocturne. "It was a dream, made real."

"Then, the names. They don't have the same power, the same meaning, they might in the Realms, but our worlds are connected. A pathfinder is one who paves the way for those to come, and so others have come, and will come," said Nephthys. "Sojourner nearly shares a name with an Ancient lost many hundreds of years ago. The deeds match, or at least fit."

"The timing isn't the most fortuitous," said Clockwork. "But you can't rush these things."

Danny looked around at the larger, older ghosts, wide eyed. "Do you mean..?"

"There's more than one way to make a ghost," said Nephthys.

"But, that- But they weren'treally alive- Could Pathfinder- or Sojourner- think?"

"No. They were, still are, and still will be, machines, albeit broken ones. They were never alive."

"Then why-" Danny rethought his question. "Then they couldn't die, could they?"

Nephthys grinned. "I'm in ccharge of mote than death. It would be better to call me the Master of Change. We're here to watch an idea coalesce more than anything else." She paused. "Whoever comes to be, they'll be Neverborn."

Danny nodded. "So, here?" he asked. "Or there?" he pointed towards Sojourner.

"We were hoping you could tell us," said Nephthys. "It's why I asked you here today. You see, sometimes ideas need a little bit of help, and you are the one most affected by this." Nephthys paused. "That we can bring up here and know personally. And like."

"Oh," said Danny. He looked back and forth between Sojourner and Pathfinder. Wow. This was important, and in a lot of different ways. It was kind of like helping someone be born. Not that Danny had ever done that. The closest he had ever gotten to that was with Danielle (if you squinted really hard) and with one excessively pregnant woman he had flown to the hospital (not North Mercy, the other one).

On the other hand, it wasn't at all like helping someone be born, because the person here already existed, and had for a while, just as different pieces. That is if he understood how the Neverborn worked properly.

"Over there," said Danny, finally, pointing at Sojourner. He flew forward, skimming along the dusty ground, avoiding several larger stones.

He hovered over the little robot, taking it in, examining its flat, dust-coated top and buried wheels. The Ancients gathered around in a loose circle, and Danny drifted to the ground, crossing his legs as he settled, and brushed away a couple of sharp stones.

There was definitely more of a _feeling_ here. A kind of energy, maybe, but a weird kind of energy. Not ectoplasm. Not electricity. Not emotional energy. The Ancients would have noticed that themselves. It was just a sort of expectation, of excitement. Something that pulled on him and drew in his attention.

Then something changed. There was ectoplasm flowing in, towards Sojourner. Power. Sparks, vividly green against the Martian red, lept through the air.

"There we go," said Nephthys. "It's starting now."

The world tinged green, and the Ghost Zone felt unusually close. Another spark flickered into being, and light briefly limned the surface of Sojourner, before flowing off into the air and coalescing into something about the size of a fist.

It resembled a will-o-the-wisp for a few seconds, but then it deformed, growing out, taking new shapes.

At the end, the final shape the ghost took reminded him just a little bit of Skulker, in that they were robotic in appearance. But that, and the ectoplasm-green eyes, was the only similarity. This ghost was smaller, shaped more or less like a young girl, with metalic grey skin, hiking clothes, and a solar panel backpack. She had rust-red freckles painted liberally over her features.

She seemed first surprised at her newfound body and freedom of movement, then pleased. Then she noticed the Ancients, and stared around at them suspiciously until her eyes landed on Danny. Her gaze intensified.

"Hi," said Danny, awkwardly raising his hand to greet the smaller, younger, ghost.

The ghost snapped out an arm, pointing away and behind her. "Betcha I can get to the top of that hill before you!"

Danny blinked, surprised. Then his eyes narrowed and he grinned. "You're on!"

.

.

.

"Do you think we should stop them?" asked Nephthys. The two young ghosts had been racing back and forth across the landscape in an effort to be the first to 'explore' various things. "We haven't actually _explained_ anything to her yet, and we need to bring her back to the Realms."

"No, no," said Clockwork, "let them have their fun. They'll wear themselves out before too long."


End file.
